Civil judge rules Young killed his wife

December 4, 2008 9:00:00 PM PST

RALEIGH --

The judge in the civil case against Jason Young ruled Friday that he "willfully and unlawfully" killed his wife Michelle.The decision came after the husband of the murdered pregnant mother missed the deadline for answering a civil lawsuit that accuses him of killing her.

Young's mother-in-law believes he killed her pregnant daughter Michelle. And when he missed the deadline for responding to Linda Fisher's lawsuit, Fisher's attorneys say he convicted himself.

The suit was filed last month on the two-year anniversary of Michelle Young's death. She was found badly beaten in the couple's home just south of Raleigh. Her 2-year-old daughter was found with the body.

Also Friday, warrants released to the media in the criminal investigation focused on the condition of her young child during and after the murder. According to the warrants, while searching the Young's house, investigators found an eight once bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol Adult Rapid Blast Liquid on a shelf in then two-year-old Cassidy Young's bedroom. Photographs show a medicine dropper "commonly used to deliver liquid medications to children" on the same shelf as the medicine.

In the warrants, investigators say that because of the location of the medicine and the dropper, they believe the medicine was delivered to Cassidy Young "under the mistaken belief that it would cause drowsiness." Investigators say that once Cassidy was asleep, "the perpetrator would have been able to commit or continue their attack without worrying about interference from the child."

The warrants also question Cassidy's whereabouts during the crime. According to the warrants, bloody child size footprints were found on the floor of Cassidy's bathroom. Investigators also found blood on the carpet between the room Michelle Young was found murdered in and Cassidy's bedroom. Further, Michelle Young's sister Meredith Fisher told investigators she found Cassidy with clean feet under the sheets on her parents' bed. In the warrants, they say because of the bloody footprints in Cassidy's bathroom, it's "logical" to conclude that the child was carried from the murder scene to her bathroom. Investigators also searched Michelle Young's Lexus SUV to see if there was any sign that Cassidy was removed from the scene. However, they did not recover anything from the SUV.